Sharapova defends Nadal after fan's flippant remark on Twitter

Rafa Nadal was hailed by the world's media, tennis fans worldwide and many of his contemporaries after his triumph at the US Open but there's always someone who cannot bring themselves to applaud other people's achievements.

Maria Sharapova, who is making her way back up the ranking after an impressive performance at the US Open, raced to Nadal's defence when a fan made a flippant remark on Twitter about the noise the Mallorquín player makes when he hits the ball. Bernie Baldwin wrote: "Everyone goes on about the noise María Sharapova makes, but Rafa Nadal, great player though he is, is equally annoying with his grunting".

Unfortunately, the fan included both Nadal's and Sharapova's Twitter handles in his tweet and Sharapova replied saying she was flabberghasted by the insolence of the comment: "The guy just won his 16th major (!!!) and this is your choice of tweet?". To give him his credit, the fan did later apologise for his "badly-worded" tweet.

While Nadal wasn't so indulgent with Sharapova after she tested positive for doping, the Russian player told Vanity Fair that she received a message of support from him when he found out about the case, and added: "I have an enormous amount of respect for him".